daly city and colma. you are on the radar of those showers heading your way. they are sliding quickly. you will get a brief,d"7 lighto moderate shower maybe 30 seconds, it gone this going to repeat throughout the day with temperatures in the 50s, low to mid 50s. good morning. light out there, first look or second look at bay bridge toll, traffic is very light heading into san francisco, no problems upper deck through the tunnel into the city out of san rafael northern portion of san rafael past lucas valley road and freitas parkway towards north san pedro road, very light, reports in paoup southbound of an accident at washington street, -- i'll update that at our next trip, mass transit, muni everybody on a regular

schedule and on time. ñ5bx commuters in sonoma couy could use a break from the rain right now flood waters are still impassable on highways 12 and 121. terry mcsweeney is live at the intersection. >> reporter: the best i've got right now is sometime today. what happens is when there's a heavy down tour as there was yesterday and a high tide, this -- this road closes not unusual they wish it was an unusual occurrence as you can see road closed, flooded. pictures of what it looked like last night. they've been trying to fix the problem here for quite sometime, obviously, no success. yesterday, it want hard to find rain-related problems, american canyon water piled up on highway 12 red top road all this going on, on christmas

day the traffic was light yesterday, richmond on mcdonald avenue they had back-up there also in berkeley a lot of places down pours and one person we talked to says he's about ready to have it wrap up. >> i'm from the bay area so i'm couldn't of used to it. but it is a little r'çí[ when driving out there on these freeways. >> reporter: you will be happy >> yes. >> reporter: he's ready for summer, five days into winter he's got a long wait. marin county last night they had a water problem not caused by wh;;&s was coming out of the sky this was a water main break up there on summer road. not only did it cause people to lose water when they shutdown that water main, in order to fix it, but also there was concern it might have undermined the road so they closed down summit road for a time checking to see how much damage all that water did. some people without water

overnight. here the story is, 121 and 12, going to reopen sometime today. terry mcsweeney, abc7 news. if you are heading through the santa cruz mountains today you might want give yourself time. hillsides are saturated prone to rock and mudslides like one near boulder creek this is where most of the rain falls as storms dump water across this first mountain range. you may fan a new new obstacles, some mountain residents had to spend christmas sandbagging their property. ben lomond is where many of the sandbags were needed you can see water build-up in the main part of town. people there are used to getting soakedwú÷x our crew got stuck in the mud while shooting these scenes. >> rain means lots of snow in the mountains. that means a tough time getting around.,k=f >> reporter: as long in some

cases as up to two hours to get to chain control at 3500 feet. >> probably at least over an hour of sitting in traffic trying to get through this mess now waiting to get chains on to get all thehw way up there the.rnr >> reporter: it is worth it for christmas. >> it is. >> reporter: lauren and her dad on a long journey to go-ing in colorado. >> [ unintelligible ] >> reporter: joe the chain guy usually a man of few words, seems to notice a difference tonight. >> people more nice today than they are. >> reporter: you are helping them out on an important day. >> it is important to a lot of people. >> reporter: everyone needed all the holiday cheer they could come up with traffic crawling only a few feet at a time instead i snow. in nyack, they are enjoying every minute it delays a return to the road. >> i'm going to throw it at mom and dad and my whole

family. >> crazy. fun to come out here everyday. >> hoping for a little bit denies think it would be this. >> reporter: back on the interstate, snow, ice and delay not enough to steal the magic of winter. >> we had a great christmas morning. it was good. this is perfect. an adventure. >> reporter: for the family of san jose a chance to play in the snow and have a white christmas before they head home to san jose. happening now the day after christmas that means a lot of you]=6k will head back o the mall to take advantage of after christmas sales at the hillsdale shopping center in san mateo some stores like old navy are open now. there's some big deals today, you will see signs of mark downs of up to 75% off, stores are trying to turn around pointing sales. new report says sales

increased only by .7% obvious last year, 7/10 of 1% nowhere near the growth they were hoping for. -- if you were fortunate to receive a tablet computer or phone you can connect with abc7 news all the time through our apps, download our hit alarm clock app for your iphone, android phone or tablet and kindle fire and our abc7 news app is available for all those devices as well as the ipad. download our apps for free from apple's app store, google play and amazon's app store. the season of giving is not over. how about a free ride? to celebrate its 100th year in service, muni is giving complementary rides this weekend that includes buses, light rail, cable cars and street cars the deal begins at 5 a.m. friday until 5 a.m. saturday. muni is the country's oldest publicly owned transit system. as it does every year muni will offer complementary trips

on new year's eve as well. 5:07. we know when the rain is going to come to answer. we also know that send going to be brief. >> only temporary, as has been the case for days. showers from at&t park to lincoln way didn't the great highway across lake merced, daly city, ocean avenue towards cesar chavez, heading towards candlestick now, colma, daly city, south san francisco, san bruno, a light shower coming your way piedmont getting it redwood road, foothill boulevard out of alameda, robert davie, jr. drive getting wet now. rohnert park around pepper road we are seeing moderate rain at least the radar is thinking there's moderate rain there. that's what we are going to get, waves of light to moderate, quick-moving showers. rainfall won't be a lot but enough to keep the roads slick

once again and aggravate you as you are trying to get around this afternoon or this morning, low to upper 40s through 7:00. low to mid 50s from noon through the around. showers start to taper after the sunsets, still wet weather possible 7:00, low to mid 40s for you. put the wet weather gear away tomorrow. light rain develops friday, better chance of wet weather towards saturday, temperatures in the 50s then. time for another check of traffic. rain falling on the golden gate bridge now, shiney streets, pooling and water as well that may be the big issue for your drive this morning, standing water, hydroplaning, as mike mentioned give yourself plenty of time, looking good out of waldo into san francisco. san mateo bridge as well moving light i should say at the limit both directions between the peninsula and east bay we are getting reports of high wind advisory for the carquinez bridge extra care

there. petaluma south 101 at washington this accident is in the median, just gettingqq heavy rain through that area too water may have been a fact for san ramon valley from highway 24 dublin pleasanton, 15 minutes,]e san rafael 101 towards golden gate plaza, not bad dry east shore commute from the carquinez bridge high winds into the macarthur maze under 20 minutes. 5:10. >> next, dramatic images of a ten touching down as a number of twisters hit part of the deep south. now that christmas is over, we'll tell you when you can put your tree on the curb to make sure it stays -- "wall street journal"ñe:c2 reports obama administration is thinking of expanding refinancing programs. borrowers whose mortgages are not backed by the government

andover more than the homes are worth may be eligible soon. tom economist believes housing will be one of the bright spots of the economy next year he says housing will improve over the next three to four years, better sales, more construction and higher prices. china now has the longest high speed rail line in the world more than 1400 miles. trains began traveling this morning. top speeds of 200 miles an hour. that's america's money,

. -- good morning. you are looking live from sutro cam it is raining out there, going to be in most places right now heading from san francisco into south san francisco and alameda. san francisco's city officials could pay municipal workers to take better care of themselves to save on health the city is trying to come up with a plan in response to a

study that phone 66% of workers were overweight or 0 -- that found 66% of workers were overweight or obese, so were their children. severe storms swept part of the country yesterday triggering more than#tgñ 30 tornadoes. dreams of a white christmas came true but caused major travel headaches. wendy gillette joins us live from new york with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. there are now reports ofíñxeo 34 tornadoes spawned by this storm system. the nationalc@ñç weather service 1l,xf to confirm that number later today there may be duplications. this is a very strong system moving across the u.s.. this is just one ofmore than 30 reported tornadoes that touched down -- touched down christmas day. >> on the ground for over a minute. >> reporter: this one roared through mobile, alabama,

tearing down parts of a church and downtown businesses. another twister hit pearl river county in mississippi, peeling back walls of homes. there were some injuries reported, no deaths. >> judging from some of the damage we've witnessed today, it is a miracle that no one was hurt any worse than they were. >> [ inaudible ] >> reporter: further east in the state theresa and her boyfriend took shelter inside their truck. >> started jerking us and spinning us. >> reporter: the same fast moving storms brought blizzard conditions to parts of the country's mid section causing a 21 vehicle pile-up in oklahoma city, the system is heading east bringing treacherous conditions on the day after christmas, often a 4y enough of a threat for some in chief land to stock up on

supplies. >> i've -- in cleveland to stock up on supplies. >> get what we need and go home i am >> reporter: the stormsjnb,p are blamed for at least -- three deaths in three states, texas, louisiana and oklahoma, there are reports of extensive power outages this morning as many as 280,000 customers without power. d- in new york, wendy gillette. 5:17. >> certainly makes our rain look not as bad. >> my sister and parents are in st. louis they were supposed to get snow. you know who they yelled at when they didn't get the snow? >> one guess. snow. >> you tell 'em. >> forecasting rain for us, can't win is all i'm saying, wanted a little pity this morning. [ laughing ] good morning. all joking aside they were hoping for a white christmas, they didn't get one, other people did so congratulations. wet start here as we look down

from east bay you can see we are looking back s raindrops heading through that area. -- storms from the northwest heading southeast picking them up with our radar on mount omnium. from at&t park down 101 through brisbane south airport we'll keep an " that. daly city, colma another shower towards the sunset going to come to your neighborhoods also, pacifica raining now. foothill boulevard from moraga down through san leandro to marina boulevard wet now this is all heading for the heart of the bay, peninsula, bay store shore, san mateo bridge, all be wet within 15 to 20 minutes. there's that other look,

cotati from old redwood highway down adobe road into ollie street and petaluma boulevard -- better radar returns -- won't last lone just enough to make minimal ponding on the roads. all of us in the low to upper 40s,/aln half moon bay 50, right now san francisco and oakland 48. light to moderate showers today, brief break tomorrow, wet weather friday, saturday. today warm front came through yesterday brought the large long duration rain cold front came through potential for a couple of thunderstorms still is out of this system on the back side of it, there's a lot dry air to our north and west, today scattered showers through the morning into the evening hours once we get to

midnight and beyond, gets clear, fog going to form again tonight, cooler tomorrow morning, increasing high clouds tomorrow through friday morning waves of light rain friday afternoon into friday evening and more rain on the way saturday. rainfall thankfully light 10 to a quarter of an inch most of the bay area. santa cruz mountains half inch to 3/4. dry days tomorrow sunday, monday, tuesday, that's what it looks like now. still going to be rain friday and saturday. here's your commute out there with light traffic conditions towards san francisco and the bay bridge no metering lights no problems upper deck nice drive out of antioch not typical you could tell we are in holiday mode still towards the pittsburg westbound highway 4 pittsburg area i should say up and over altamont at the limit

into livermore no delays here westbound 580 flooding in shellville area sonoma 121 at highway 12, 8th street closed they hope to have that cleared later today. south 101 washington accident in the median in petaluma if you are making your way out now of cotati towards petaluma. coming up, it is for the birds. why more than 100 volunteers are getting ready to track the number of species that call san francisco home. going bowling -- preview of today's bowl games.

you are looking live from our rooftop camera buildings decorated for the holidays in downtown san francisco, rain showers, a break from that tomorrow. looks so beautiful and peaceful now but it is raining and that is going to continue today. >> you get to focus on the fun

stuff. it is raining now, san leandro heading towards hayward, getting close to the san mateo bridge now pulling away from south san francisco and airport heading towards burlingame, hillsborough,7-í pacifica on its way to san mateo as we speak. everybody getting wet weather except san diego and high deserts now, dry but that is also heading towards that area. 60s down there, most of us in the 50s until you get to chico, 49, sierra it is snowing now, you need chains up there. winter weather advisory for tahoe area two to four inches of snow above 4,000 feet, another four to seven inches above 7,000 feet. yes, you still need chain controls watch out for travel delays. here's sue. we hope to have a live shot of truckee through the sierra we'll try to get that

for you. chain requirements, there it is, snow on the roads, lots of snow on the sides trying to plow that, big rig going through now, chains required from gold run to the nevada border both directions of highway 80 up and over the sierra. san rafael light from novato past civic center into central san rafael southbound 101 no problems. bart, muni, caltrain all mass transit back to regular schedule, everybody is on time. 5:26. >> you don't have to ditch your christmas tree today but the city of sp wants to make san francisco wants to make sure when the time combs you try-cycle. -- from

-- a team of more than 100 volunteers will start at dawn until dusk peering through their binoculars to count birds that spend winters in san francisco, last year observers counted 176 different species more than 60,000 individual birds. this year's san jose state football team son the road after their fantastic 10-2 season, spartans take on bowling green in washington, d.c. this thursday on espn. it will be their first bowl appearance since 2006. san jose's jr. qb has broken

school records since the coach left for colorado defensive coordinator will be coaching the spartans in thursday's big game. just ahead, big shopping day for bargain hunters, many stores opening early. amy hollyfield is live at one store with its doors already open. all the rain has turned some vineyards into lakes. the affects it will have on the grapes.

good morning i'm katie marzullo in for kristen sze. and i'm eric thomas. mike has been studying live doppler as he has been for the

past week. it has been a great tool during this string of wet weather for december. good morning. 5:30, scattered showers light to moderate, light shower now pulling towards san mateo, burlingame, across the bridge towards hayward, san leandro, union city, fremont and milpitas. sonoma south of you and coming out of petaluma along 112, 37, novato right now getting wet weather, also from bodega bay towards petaluma we are seeing wet weather. any time today you have a chance of a light to moderate shower a quick mover and it will keep temperatures in the 50s. have the wet weather gear handy and patience. it is raining now at the golden gate bridge quick look at the roadway here it is very slick and you can see the shineyness of the rain coming down you need wipers for your -- -- for your drive this

morning on and off showers most of your drive in. east shore freeway getting busy golden gate fields past university avenue into emeryville and berkeley curve. no major stalls or accidents. north 17 summit stall blocking right lane towards san jose, drive times right now busier commute 880 nab, 24 from -- 880 northbound, 24 from the walnut creek. hundreds of oakland residents have power again pafbg in the dark part of this morning. -- almost 7,000 customers were in the dark after a car hit in a pole this morning. pg&e crews brought all back online separate outage in san leandro affecting 200 customers is not expected to be fixed until this afternoon. bay area stores are open early and slashing prices for the after christmas day sales.

retailers are trying to salvage softer than expected holiday sales. amy hollyfield has the story live from san mateo's hillsdale shopping center. >> reporter: good morning. the doors are open this old navy opened at 5:00 this morning. no one is here. good news if you are looking for a deal this morning, you can get one without the crowds. maybe everyone is tired of the strength to go shopping one more it would be worth i, the deals are huge, 75% of the -- worth it, the deals are huge, 75% off. the biggest discounts winter clothing, also on electronics. here are deals that are noteworthy, on amazon, 46 inch tv slashed 55%, to $338. at best buy, digital camera for 50% off, only $129,

bloomingdale's cashmere sweater only $89. retailers are desperate to get rid of extra merchandise and they have some sales were not as good as they were hoping this is their last-ditch attempt to make some money before the holidays come to an end. amy hollyfield, abc7 news. it is 5:34. in sonoma county, high water has the intersection of two state highways shutdown, 12 and 121 in shellville remains closed after it flooded last night. low-lying area between sonoma and pablo bay floods frequently. they hope the water will recede enough to hope later today. in east palo alto, people living along the san francisco key toe creek are hoping the

rain -- san francisquito creek are hoping the rain won't bringing flooding. the weak levee is off east bay shore road the system needs to be strengthened construction project begins in the spring to do that. this morning a stretch of highway 1 south5: big sur remains closed after rock slides from the weekend storm. these are pictures from caltrans. the slide happened sunday afternoon, crews are working to clear the debris and repair a 60 foot section of damaged roadway. here's the specific stretch of road closed no word on when it is going to reopen officials hope to have one lane open later this week. in the north bay rain and runoff have napa river swollen, but well within its banks other parts of wine country looked more like lakes, water topped levee at sonoma creek

where it borders on 70 acres of vineyards, an area where people expect flooding in, as far as grapes, it is a nuisance for the chardonnay vine but it has benefits. >> for3f-v the vineyards it recharges our water supply, we gets lots of good soil from the valley. bad news is every year it costs 10 to $15,000 to clear debris. >> crews typically repair broken levees once a year after the rainy season. two people have died in avalanche-related accidents. 53-year-old member of the ski patrol was buried in the snow his team was setting explosives to intentionally trigger an a routine safety measure. monday a snowboarder died after getting caught in avalanche, he's a 49-year-old truckee man. heavy snow in the sierra

causing traffic problems, i-80 packed with cars going to squaw valley yesterday. one man realized he needed chains with >> very dangerous, we saw a car sliding on the side, we were scared we decided to stop and put our chains on. >> hard to with frozen fingers, right? the snow continues in the sierra this morning. squaw valley expects up to 20 inches of fresh powder by tonight here in san francisco, showers. let's check in with mike. fisherman's wharf, along the embarcadero, -- heading to the airport towards pacifica, we have it right there, another round heading towards the great highway and sunset in 15 minutes. sliding to the south, first wave, san leandro drying out

temporarily, castro valley, hayward towards dublin wet weather, san mateo bridge towards foster, raining san pablo bay, 37 as you head up towards snow , we are seeing a light to mode right shower. all sliding quickly from northwest to southeast, a brief light to moderate shower may last a few minutes then it moves on this is what we are going to have today through about 4:00, with temperatures reaching the low to mid 50s, showers start tapering at 7:00, if you have outdoor activities try to get them down tomorrow, tomorrow is the driest day into the next three we have a chance of the light rain friday, better chance of measureable rain saturday. let's find out about that traffic. it is pretty good. live shot of the san mateo bridge, moving nicely as you make your way towards foster city up and over highrise

bridge lights are blurring due to the rain that mike has mentioned is fall there eastbound looking good towards hayward no delays here bay bridge also wet roads a little busier now no problems upper deck, no metering lights yet. going to be a light week traffic-wise due to the holidays. no bart, no muni delays, ace number 1 out of livermore about five minutes late due to mechanical problems out of manteca, also in the sonoma area 121 highway 12 closed at 8th street due to flooding that should be reopened later this morning. santa cruz mountains stall blocking right lane northbound at the summit. next, a manhole cover explodes in downtown san francisco. what officials say caused a fire in an underground vault. president obama cuts his holiday vacation short with his family. why he's leaving hawaii tonight.

storms that slammed through the south and killed three are moving toward the northeast this morning. twister touching down after night fall in mobile, alabama the tornado blew out

transformers leaving thousands without power and damaged homes, high school and church, several injuries were reported. people in parts of florida and georgia sleeping uneasy tornado watches in effect there. in new york police found a bed in the burned out home of the man who killed -- found a body in the burned out home of be the killers sister. two other firefighters are still in the hospital. police say ex-convict william spengler armed himself with weapons and set his house on fire to lure first responders into a trap he killed himself he left a note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and kill as many people as possible. san francisco woman accused of fatal hit-and-run in court today. police arrested 23-year-old gina eunice for leaving the scene after hitting four pedestrians last week. the victims were flown over

the embankment, a 56-year-old woman died at a local hospital police found her damaged car a short distance away, today she will face felony dui, felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter. manhole cover explosion forced closure of san francisco intersection. what sounds like popcorn came from a fire in an underground vault, the fire was caused by equipment failure after 5 last evening at third and mission the fire was quickly put out, no outages or customers losing power as a result. president obama is cutting short his christmas holiday in hawaii to resume talks on averting the fiscal cliff. the president and first lady spent part of their christmas visiting troops on the marine base in honolulu. mrs. obama and the couple's

hawaii until january 6th. the president will leave hawaii tonight. lawmakers have less than a week to agree on how to avert tax increases said to go into effect in january. holiday gift-giving season brings a fresh crop of electronic waste. christmas doesn't bring many happy returns, especially today. >> here's this morning's bloomberg business report. good morning. christmas is over, let the returns begin say you are not a big fan of that sweater from your aunt you may want to wait a few days before heading back to the stores, the day is the worst day to return unwanted gifts the lines are the longest, clerks burned out from the holiday madness. holiday retail sales up less than a percent from last year, worst than what had been expected. worries over the if can and hurricane sandy disrupting shopping. don't forget to recycle old

devices you don't want. a company called green citizen tells bloomberg it expects to see a 30% rise in e-waste between now and february. tomorrow lawmakers head back to washington to continue tackling the fiscal cliff stocks continue to fall on growing concern time is running out to come to a budget agreement. we are keeping a close eye on the storm i should say mike is, if you are seeing a break it is only a temporary break. temporary break is good not everybody getting wet weather now moving northwest to southeast trying to touch all of our neighborhoods, here's a[tfñ look from sutro tor on san francisco an area that is drying out from one of those showers, pretty good coverage outside of the south bay, east bay valleys now, let's start with the ones that

are farrers to the south hayward, union city -- san carlos, santa clara way, redwood city, all heading towards fremont, palo alto, milpitas, dublin downtown pleasanton towards livermore on main street where we are seeing wet weather best radar return now hillsborough, where 35 and 280 come together just now pulling away from hillcrest boulevard, you are starting to see a let-up in the heavier rain heading towards american canyon vallejo on 378, -- on 37, crossing san pablo bay. there you go, this is going to pattern of these brief light to moderate showers in the forecast all day no escaping it, 40s now, 50 half moon bay mainly 40s monterey bay and inland, monterey 50.

light to moderate showers all day today, brief break tomorrow. then wet again friday and more so saturday. yesterday's long duration rain we talked about from a warm front then sharper heavier rain more showery in nature like now with the cold front and on the back side of the system with the low rolling through our neighborhoods now, counterclockwise flow northwesterly showers through noon all the way through 5:00, once the sunsets greatest instability over the ocean if we see showers tonight, the rest of us will start to clear out and fog tomorrow morning and temperatures in the 30s and 40s. tomorrow afternoon, more sunshine, still pretty much in a cool air mass, 50s, clouds roll in thursday night into friday keep our temperature up friday morning. then another warm front we have light rain developing

friday afternoon into the evening. this rain will not cause any more flooding,. tomorrow partly cloudy, dry, light rain rolls in friday afternoon, better chance of widespread heavier rain saturday, partly cloudy, sunday, monday, tuesday, the new year starts dry maybe that's a soon of change. good morning -- a lot of snow in the sierra folks headed up there to get fresh skiing chain requirements now live look at 80 at the truck scales, snow on the road piled up on the side of the road you will need chains or four wheel drive for the time being to get both directions on 80. also 50 it is snowing and you need chains there as well. great skiing, i'm sure the remember sorts are super happy. closer to home, light traffic

northbound 87, julian street off-ramp in san jose towards 101, at the limit, no issues. to the bay bridge tolls, busier, no problems, no delays on the upper deck into san francisco. couple of mass transit delays, caltrain southbound mechanical problems for train 102 leaving san francisco and train 1, ace train 1 still a little behind as it makes its way towards san jose. 5:50. coming up, another holiday begins today. we'll tell you where you can take par in the bay area's largest kwanzaa celebration. setback for educators looking for federal help.

good morning. day after christmas sales looking live at our roof camera picture of san francisco wet streets keep that in mind as you head out to shop, a lot of stores open early. amy hollyfield will tell you more. new this morning, happy kwanzaa today is the first day of the seven day festival honoring african-american heritage and culture in the bay area largest celebration will get underway at 10 at the discovery museum in sausalito. the festival was created in 1966 by a cal-state university

professor. kwanzaa focuses on seven principle, including unity, purpose, creativity and faith. 5:53. it is going to be a wet one out there for a lot people this morning. >> incredible math skills there, thank you. has the forecast. live doppler 7 hd showers from alameda, san leandro across the san mateo bridge towards foster city, redwood city san mateo all sliding southeast all of us are going to get touched by a shower maybe more than one today, all of this is heading south too watch out for l.a., san diego, palm springs, best chance of snow in the seer that today, 36 in -- in the sierra today. four to seven inches of fresh powder above 7,000 feet. you need chains everywhere.

>> both 50 and 80 chains required now headed to the sierra no road closures. closer to home, busy conditions, no problems, no delays, everybody is at limit, 80 westbound under university the overpass there into the berkeley curve and macarthur maze moving at the limit, no problems across the golden gate bridge it is wet, you can see rain as you make your way south out of the waldo tunnel into san francisco tolls on doyle drive early, no delays south 101 petaluma area at washington, reports of an accident clearing phases, slow traffic and to san jose new reports first reports of an accident north 101 pardon me north 680 at mckey. out of asia the world's longest high speed rail line is up and running in china. first bullet train left beijing this morning the --

the rail line is designed for top speeds up to 217 miles an hour, what used to take commuters 22 hours will now only take eight. north bay drivers with will find several road closures in the new year as construction moves forward for a new commuter rail service. for the next two months the district will replace old ties at several crossings between santa rosa and san rafael. managers of the smart train plan to spend an extra 6 1/2 million dollars to buy more rail cars the funding comes from a controversial 2008 sales tax. the recession and other factors forced the 70 mile project to be shortened. the federal government has denied california's request for a waiver from the no child left behind law.

the law requires student test scores in english and math to improve each year and reduces federal funding to states where students don't. the sticking point is california's reluctance to evaluate teachers based on test scores. california's politically strong teachers' union has fought the change. 33 other states and the district of columbia have been granted waiverers from the law with stores are going to be packed today with after christmas shoppers, some will be making returns. the change one retailer is making to its return policy home theater systems offer great sound for your home. michael finney and consumer reports ahead with the money saving option if you are tight on cash. we continue to track showers across the bay area. mike will be back with your forecast and what to expect for the morning commute.

good morning i'm katie marzullo in for kristen sze this morning. i'm eric thomas. it is the day after christmas. it means more rain. good morning. live doppler, scattered pockets of showers light